And Dave, I hear what you are saying. The problem as I see it is- Who determines the definition of “violent”? I have heard of extremely violent charges being reduced to practically nothing, and totally stupid things being addressed as “violent”. We need someone with common sense to come up with a fair, reasonable definition of “violent”. For example, “hurting people” should be taken into consideration. These “tools” are often used selectively.

And I have seen some of the aftermath of incarceration:

Mother’s (and fathers) permanently loosing custody, even parental rights of their children;

Not being able to get a licence because of fines, court costs, or outrageous child support that can never be caught up;

Not being able to get a job because you don’t have a license, car or ride to work, or because of criminal history;

Families loosing everything they have, or having to choose between paying for medicine, utility bills, FOOD- or the telephone bill so that they or an inmates children can have contact.

And this is often, not always- because of stupid, impulsive decisions.

I want reform!!! Check out the documentary “One Nation Under Guard”. I think most people don’t have a clue how corrupt the system is. I know, there are some really good people working for DOC, but as in most places, change needs to start at the top. We try to present ourselves as “humane”, but how some people are treated is inexcusable. I am starting to wonder why, if we are not going to give people a second chance, do we even let them out?

Does Sen. Obenshain have any real interest in these issues? Because, generally, you get what you give and that goes for a society as well. Investments usually pay off.

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I emailed him and invited him to participate in the discussion. We’ll see what comes of it.

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Why is Mark Obenshain so bent on making people scared to death of everything?

Why did he start this campaign to hurt Gemeinschaft without input from the community? without input from the schools nearby? without input from the city? and without knowing anything about Gemeinschaft? What is his goal?

Are you actively trying to get Obenshain on the blog to answer some questions? or is he too good to answer to the people who vote for him?

I hope you take him out Maxine!

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You have made a very good point.

We do unfortunately have mothers writing bad checks or shoplifting to support their children getting years, while a rapist sentenced in the same Court gets a suspended sentence, or we see a kid with three pills getting fifteen years, while a child molester with thirteen counts does house arrest.

These are concerns we have to address as we work on restoration.

Still, we first have to amend the Constitution in order for any of these things to even be considered, because the Constitution of Virginia requires permanent disenfranchisement and only allows the governor to grant restoration via the clemency process. By law, the issue must first be voted on two years in a row with an intervening election and placed on the ballot for the voters to decide that the General Assembly can act to make changes.

It is up to the voters to grant the legislature authority to act, but first we must have the legislature willing to allow the voters to vote on the issue.

-Maxine

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In the alternative, the offender could be ordered by a court to engage, or not engage, in certain conduct, therapy, drug testing, whatever, and probation officers be granted to charge those offenders with either civil or criminal contempt until such time as the offender complies with the direction(s) of the court. As we’ve seen here recently in Harrisonburg, civil contempt can hold one’s butt in jail indefinitely.

In other words, I’m in favor of granting total restoration of rights to all felons, assuming of course, that those who commit violent crimes aren’t sentenced to 25 years in jail — with 24 years, 6 months suspended as judges are known to do here in Rockingham.

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As you may know, the Constitution of Virginia provides that a person’s civil rights are permanently forfeited for those who commit a felony offense. It is only by petition to the governor for restoration that these rights can be reinstated. While Governor Warner made changes, that have made this process simpler and more expedient, it would be only by a vote of the citizens to amend the Constitution that automatic restoration could take place. So far, the majority party in the General Assembly has not allowed the appropriate resolution to pass through the legislature so that the PEOPLE can be presented with a ballot question as to whether or not the General Assembly could create laws to automatically restore the right to vote to former nonviolent offenders. My opponent is one of those who has continually voted against allowing the citizens of this Commonwealth the opportunity to vote on this issue for themselves. (And, I should point out that the proposed legislation in the past several years would have only applied to nonviolent offenders.)

While I do be believe that certain rights should not be automatically restored, such as blanket gun rights to those who may be a danger to the public, and certain offenders may need to be monitored or restricted based on the type of crime they participated in, especially when it relates to voter fraud, I would support this issue being brought to the voters by ballot question. In my view, this fringes on taxation without representation for many, and we just continue to ask these individuals to be responsible members of society while we continue to effectively exclude them from our society.

I would be very interested in hearing from the voters in this district on how they feel.

-Maxine

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Like Mike, I know a lot of people who are/were involved in prison ministries. I remember helping out and visiting prisons when I was a kid. I couldn’t imagine trying to recover from a big mistake in a place like that without outside help, or without a network to help once you get out.

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